Proponents for specialization are everywhere today, it would seem. From LinkedIn to Indeed to Monster, hiring sites and social media influencers in the business space are pushing for it. The payoff for the company is obvious; for some areas like the medical field, precision engineering, or computer modeling like computational fluid dynamics specialization is the is extremely important because exactness is a requirement. In many fields, however, I believe specialization is pushed as a way to decrease corporate mobility. Many jobs along the corporate hierarchy not only encourage but demand an array of knowledge about a given process.
My own story mirrors many I graduated from college with. I went to school for mechanical engineering and minored in mathematics. This track required many very technical classes, so, naturally, I believed any future career in engineering I chose would rely heavily on my technical skill; this assumption proved to be extremely false. I learned that I had an interest in data analysis and decided I should pursue an interest in coding and data production. I suspect a few years down the road that my innate interests will lead me down some other path.
The thought of changing career paths and adding skills to the toolbox can seem initially daunting, but meeting challenges, whether in life or career, is what makes life worth living. For better or for worse, the era our parents and grandparents grew up in with the 20-year career at a single company and the gold watch for retirement is very much over; the only thing that will separate the successful from the unsuccessful going forward is willingness to pivot and a hunger to increase and broaden one’s skillset.
Fear of failure has kept many from seeking new jobs, promotions or career paths, but your brain, like a muscle, can be trained through repetition to embrace change. This is best done through starting things you would not naturally do. I am not and will not ever be the worlds best SQL programmer, math nerd or mechanical engineer, but my willingness to embrace the possibility of failure is shifting my paradigm from, ”I don’t know how to do that, so I shouldn’t try” to, “I don’t know how to do that YET. Wouldn’t it be cool if I did; bet there is a course/ article/ blog post/ Youtube video that could teach me how”. It has been one of the greatest revelations of my life, and I hope that drive never leaves.
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